A local judge has been appointed to a state committee charged with advising the Michigan Legislature and Supreme Court on policies related to specialty courts.

Raymond Voet, chief judge of the Ionia County 64-A District Court since 1999, was appointed by State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville and Speaker of the House Jase Bolger to serve a four-year term, ending Sept. 18, 2017, on the State Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee. Voet will represent veterans’ treatment court judges.

Voet also presides over the county’s veterans’ court, which was the first veterans’ court in Michigan developed to meet the criminal justice and treatment needs of service men and women and veterans – particularly when their criminal behavior is related to physical or psychological injury from service.

The State Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee, which meets quarterly, monitors the effectiveness of drug treatment courts and veterans’ treatment courts and their funding. The committee presents annual recommendations to the Legislature and the Supreme Court for proposed statutory changes to drug treatment courts and veterans’ treatment courts.

Created by Public Act 224 of 2004 (effective Jan. 1, 2005), and amended in October 2012 to include a veterans’ court representative, the committee of 18 includes the state court administrator, judges, prosecutors, state police, defense counsel, corrections officers and treatment providers.

“Just like the local teams for treatment courts, it’s a cross section of the criminal justice community,” Voet said.

Specialty courts are the wave of the future, and “the advisory committee is helping steer the direction that ship is sailing,” said Voet.

“It’s an expensive ship, and it helps determine where taxpayers’ dollars get spent. We could warehouse people, which is expensive; then if they commit crimes after they get out, they’re costing society that way – a cost to lives and property,” he added. “Specialty courts address both angles: they reduce the jail and prison populations and prevent future crimes, while protecting the public.”

Voet called his appointment “an honor for Ionia.” Noting Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer’s appointment by Gov. Rick Snyder in February to the Mental Health Diversion Council, which is looking at how to divert individuals with mental illness or substance abuse problems out of the criminal justice system and into appropriate treatment, Voet said both his and Schafer’s appointments are a recognition that “the local community is out in front and leading in this area, rather than affecting change with the status quo that isn’t working.”

A lifelong resident of Ionia, Voet attended SS Peter and Paul Elementary School and graduated from Ionia High School in 1980. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Aquinas College in 1984, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law in 1987.

Page 2 of 2 - “I’m glad to explore what can be done, not just in Ionia and Michigan but nationally to help treat veterans,” Voet said. “It’s a serious problem – men and women who served their country and are suffering, and we haven’t figured out how to help them. This is a step in that direction.”

The next meeting of the State Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee is Nov. 26 in Lansing.